For their monthly breakfast meeting, the Muswellbrook Chamber of Commerce took the opportunity to host a ‘Meet the Candidates’ event, inviting New England’s federal candidates to introduce themselves and debate on local issues.
The event was well attended with four of six candidates attending in person, Barnaby Joyce sending through a video and Family First candidate Holly Masters sending her apologies.
Candidates were drawn out of a hat and given three minutes to introduce themselves, beginning with One Nation candidate Brent Larkham.
Mr Larkham admitted that while One Nation would not win the election, it was important that parties like One Nation had a seat at the table.
He was followed by Labor candidate Laura Hughes who explained electoral boundary changes and drew on her experience as a schoolteacher, sharing her focus on teamwork.
“[I find] the federal Labor team impressive; Labor governs for everybody, and I want to be apart of that,” she shared.
Independent candidate Natasha Ledger followed, sharing that she would offer a balanced perspective on politics.
Ms Ledger also shared her thoughts on nuclear energy, saying that while she understood that Muswellbrook wants to be an energy powerhouse, it will be timely and unaffordable.
Current MP Barnaby Joyce via video followed, commending the contributions Muswellbrook makes to the nation’s standard of living and sharing his plans to invest back into the town through nuclear power.
“I believe in nuclear energy and that’s going to be billions of dollars invested the area,” he said.
“Your area has been incredibly good at producing baseline power for New South Wales and for our nation and we’ve got to make sure that continues on and that the wealth from that, the jobs, the fitters, makers and electricians are moving into the Muswellbrook area.”
Lastly, Muswellbrook based Greens candidate Wendy Wales introduced herself, sharing her journey to Muswellbrook, with the Greens and environmental activism, also mentioning how she had seen mining grow closer to the town.
“I’m sometimes disheartened by the state of the world and the environment, but the Greens will offer policies to take us from social and environmental crisis to a more equitable Australia,” Ms Wales said.
Attendees then had the opportunity to ask questions with candidates given three minutes to respond.
The first question was put to the candidates by a local resident, asking what was going to happen to the region post coal mining.
Labor candidate Laura Hughes shared that Labor had already started the process with public and private partnerships, investing in renewable energy and the Future Made in Australia Program.
Ms Hughes further suggested reskilling workers and replacing mine sites with other businesses.
One Nation’s Brent Larkham ridiculed net zero targets, saying that transition needs to happen over a period of time.
Greens candidate Wendy Wales suggested a central, independent authority to guide the transition while Independent Natasha Ledger encouraged a focus on small business and subsidising apprenticeships.
Candidates were then asked if they supported the budget and time frame delivered by the Labor Government for the Muswellbrook Bypass, which they all supported.
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